“There are thousand, may be tens of thousands, of people affected by this – if they’re not facing huge and unwarranted tax bills, they have been assigned wrong salary grades, have lost benefits they are entitled to, or have had their student loan repayments ‘disappear’.

“Those aren’t just glitches; they are major, systemic problems and clearly show Novopay should never have been signed-off.

“Steven Joyce definitely has his work cut out. Yes, he needs to ask some questions – tough ones - about its roll out and yes, he needs to look at its capability, but he also needs to be looking at alternative systems, given the possibility Novopay is beyond repair. .

“It’s six months since this issue first arose. Schools are just weeks away from the start of a new year and they still don’t have a working payroll. Staff have every right to be angry.

“If Mr Joyce can deliver a silk purse from a system that was never going to be anything more than a pig’s ear, then all credit to him.

“But if he finds he can’t stitch it together, he needs to find an alternative quick smart.”